Newcastle 1 Man City 3: Zabaleta leads charge for champions

IN THE seconds before kick-off Jonas Gutierrez tried to engage his Argentine
compatriot Pablo Zabaleta in a bit of friendly banter. The Newcastle
midfielder was all smiles but Zabaleta wasn’t inclined to light-heartedness.
Already in battle mode, Zabaleta got even more serious when the game began
and his grit embodied an excellent City performance.

Newcastle have now lost six of their past seven matches in the Premier League
but they are not playing that badly and for long periods here they looked a
decent side. It was just that City were better.

The game fizzed along and anybody dithering on the ball soon lost it. City’s
readiness to roll up their sleeves was impressive. That attitude might have
been helped by the absence of Mario Balotelli, who was not part of the squad
yesterday. “Mario is not in form at this moment,” said his manager, Roberto
Mancini, “and it is